NASCAR race at Darlington gets a name as vintage Goodyear tire designs return
When NASCAR’s Cup Series returns to Darlington this spring, it will be for a race once again called the Goodyear 400 and it will be with a vintage-looking tire. Darlington Raceway and Goodyear, a 68-year-old partner of NASCAR, announced Monday a renewal of its entitlement sponsorship of the Goodyear 400 for NASCAR’s Throwback race at “The Track Too Tough to Tame.”
Darlington Raceway is a 1.366-mile oval in Darlington, S.C.
Last year’s race was won by Martin Truex Jr. during an event in which cars sported nostalgic paint schemes that honor the history of stock car racing. It was Goodyear’s first entitlement race in North America.
This year’s race is at 3:30 p.m. May 8, Mother’s Day. (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM.)
The Eagle race tires will feature a vintage sidewall design, last used during the 1980-1992 Cup seasons, and reflect the spray-painted logo designs used formerly in NASCAR. While the design is a throwback, it will look slightly different on Cup cars this year with the single, center-locking lug nut for the wheels of the Next Gen car.
The tire design will be used at all three national series races at Darlington this spring. The Truck Series races May 6 (7:30 p.m.) and the Xfinity Series on May 7 (1:30 p.m.) at Darlington.
“From the paint schemes to the historic track and throwback tire design, few races capture NASCAR’s tradition like the Goodyear 400,” Darlington Raceway president Kerry Tharp said in a statement. “As NASCAR’s longest-running continuous partner, Goodyear is uniquely woven into the fabric of the sport and is an ideal partner for the Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR at Darlington Raceway.”
Goodyear conducted its first NASCAR tires test at Darlington in 1954 and earned its first NASCAR win in the 1959 Southern 500 at Darlington with driver Jim Reed behind the wheel.
